Let
us now concentrate on the female symbolism that we find in church architecture.
Much of our themes which we presently use to design sacred edifices are based on
what we have learned from our "Gothic" progenitors. Though there have
been various phases in history when certain styles of architecture have
prevailed, but in most of them there have been some standard themes that have
been used which have been perpetuated from time immemorial. Without doubt, some
of our ecclesiastical designs in our buildings have motifs that reach back to
the early classical periods. And recall what Vitruvius said (who lived at the
time of Augustus, near the period of Jesus' birth). He made it clear that
architects in the classical periods used human body parts as their principal
standards and benchmarks as designs with which they constructed their sacred
buildings, especially temples and shrines. The "Gothic" is a prime
example of this. Vitruvius gives a further account to show the relationship.

"In like fashion, the parts of temples ought
to have dimensions of their several parts answering suitably to the general
sum of their whole magnitude. Now the navel [Latin: umbilicus] is naturally
in the exact center of the body. For if a man lies on his back with hands
and feet outspread, and the center of a circle is place on his navel, his
figure and toes will be touched by the circumference. Also a square will be
found described within a figure, in the same way as a round figure is
produced. For if we measure from the sole of the foot to the top of the
head, and apply the measure to the outstretched hands, the breadth will be
found equal to the height, just like sites [of temples] which are squared by
rule" (ibid., Book III.ch. 1 ,sect.3).

Look carefully at this architectural illustration of Vitruvius. He was giving
a principle of constructing temples that showed the navel of a human body
representing the center part of a temple. Vitruvius said: "Now the navel is
naturally the exact center of the body. For if a man lies on his back with his
hands and feet outspread, and the center of a circle is placed on his navel, his
figure and toes will be touched by the circumference." This, of course, is
true. Now let us use this object lesson of Vitruvius and apply it to the human
female. If a woman lies on her back in such a posture as Vitruvius mentioned,
and then lifts her knees to be perpendicular to her body, her legs will
obviously be elevated above her body as two projections. Such a position, I am
told, is the common one that women assume when they are given a pelvic exam by a
medical doctor. The genitalia will be given full view. Transferring this posture
to an architectural application in regard to building a sacred temple, as
Vitruvius would use it, the temple of the illustration would reveal two elevated
towers with an entrance to a temple between the towers at their base. Imagine
such a building for a moment. Such a scene is not unlike prime Gothic cathedrals
having two spires on each side of an entrance leading into the sacred precincts.
Note examples below

With such an architectural posture in mind, we are now ready to carry the
symbolism of the human body (in this case, the female body) into the heart of
Christian architectural themes that were used near the period of the Crusades
when Gothic [barbaric] designs were becoming popular.

Early Irish Churches Blatantly Show Female Genitalia

The Christian men in Ireland who were in authority over their flocks had
churches built in order to perform the liturgies and rituals associated with
their sacred duties. And what did the church authorities place at the entrances
to many of their churches just before and after the time of the Crusades? In
full view of the congregations that attended the various Catholic Churches then
in Ireland, the priests and monks placed a statue carved out of stone (usually)
showing a squatting woman with her legs apart and the genitalia of the woman
held open with her hands. Such images were widespread in Ireland and each one
was known as a Shiela-Na-Gig (probably meaning, the "Woman of the
Vulva"). This naked woman was prominently displayed for all the churchgoers
at the keystone spot of an arched doorway leading into the church (or sometimes
over a pointed arch of a window that was also apart of the church).

It may be difficult for us of modern times to believe that such things
happened in a Catholic Christian environment, but the fact is, they did indeed
take place. In the prestigious "Encyclopedia of Religion," edited by
Mercia Eliade and published by Macmillian Publishing Company for the University
of Chicago, there are references to these Sheila-Na-Gigs (sometimes
spelled Sheelagh-na-gig). Notice what the encyclopedia tells us about them.

"Aside from the transformative religious
mysteries of sacrifice and initiation, the obvious life-giving and
growth-promoting powers of the vulva and its secretions have given rise to a
widespread use of representations of the female genitalia as apotropaic
devices. The custom of plowing a furrow for magical protection around a town
was practiced all over Europe by peasants. It was still observed in the
twentieth century in Russia, where villages were thus annually 'purified.'
The practice was exclusively carried out by women, who, while plowing,
called on the moon goddess. A similar apotropaic function seems to have
prompted the placing of squatting female figures prominently exposing their
open vulvas on the key of arches at church entrances in Ireland, Great
Britain, and German Switzerland. In Ireland these figures are called
Sheelagh-na-gigs. Some of these figures represent emaciated old women. These
images are illustrations of myths concerning the territorial Celtic goddess
who was the granter of royalty. When the goddess wished to test the
king-elect, she came to him in the form of an old hag, soliciting sexual
intercourse. If the king-elect accepted, she transformed herself into a
radiantly beautiful young woman and conferred on him royalty and blessed his
reign. Most such figures were removed from churches in the nineteenth
century.

And a little farther down in the same article:

"A remarkable parallel to the Celtic
Sheelagh-na-gig is found in the Palauan archipelago. The wooden figure of a
nude woman, prominently exposing her vulva by sitting with legs wide apart
and extended to either side of the body, is placed on the eastern gable of
each village's chiefly meeting house. Such figures are called dilugai.
Interestingly, the yoni [the female genitalia] is in the shape of a cleft
downward-pointing triangle. These female figures protect the villagers'
health and ward off all evil spirits as well. They are constructed by ritual
specialists according to strict rules, which if broken would result in the
specialist's as well as the chiefs death. It is not coincidental that each
example of signs representing the female genitalia used as apotropaic
devices are found on gates. The vulva is the primordial gate, the mysterious
divide between nonlife and life" (EncyclopediaofReligion,
article YONI, Vol.15, p.534).

There is a great deal of information about these Sheila-Na-Gigs that
were found in many places in Ireland (until the Protestant Reformation when many
of them were destroyed by the reformers) and in various places of Northern
Europe within Christian times (indeed, these images were found in the most
prominent places carved on Catholic Christian churches). They were even found on
Cathedrals (the seat of a bishopric). The highest authorities in the Christian
Church allowed them to exist at the time.

In the famous "Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics," edited
by James Hastings, we read the following.

"Nor are such female effigies confined to the
pagan natives of tropical wilds. They were frequently carved on churches in
the Middle Ages. Many have been preserved until recently in Ireland, as,
e.g. on a doorway of Cloyne Cathedral, Co. Cork. The Royal Irish Academy in
Dublin possesses a very good specimen removed from a church. They are known
to Irish antiquaries by the name Sheila-Na-Gig. Most of them, however, have
now been destroyed" (vol. IX, p.8~7).

Barbara Walker in her book "The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and
Sacred Objects," states under the subject Sheila-Na-Gig:

"Female figures prominently displaying the yoni [female genitalia]
as a vesica piscus [Mandorla] were once common ornaments of Irish churches
built before the sixteenth century. As a rule the sheila-na-gig was carved
into the keystone of a window or doorway arch. Undoubtedly it was a
protective sign left over from pre-Christian Goddess worship. Figures of the
same type were found throughout Europe as cathedral decorations, on the
capitals of columns, at the ends of ceiling beams, and so forth. Squatting
Goddess figures almost identical to the Sheila-Na-Gig guarded the doors of
temples in India" (p.104).

It should be recalled that the depiction of these women blatantly showing
their genitalia in the most prominent places of a Cathedral or church were
sanctioned and ordained by the Christian ecclesiastical authorities with the
approval and approbation of the papacy in Rome (after all, some of them were
found on churches as late as the nineteenth century). A few of these images
approved by the priests and monks are shown below. These few represent the
hundreds that must have existed on other churches.

PLATE VI (Shelah-Na-Gig Monuments)
PLATE VII (VENUS OF THE VANDALS, BRONZE AND LEAD IMAGES, AND CAPITAL OF A
COLUMN)

Many symbols and signs on churches and cathedrals in Europe were not as
blatant as the Sheila-Na-Gigs, but the so-called benign symbols that the female
and male genitalia represented only the initiated into the "church
mysteries" would know what they meant. Many windows were given various
designs that to the uninitiated looked like pretty decorations to make the
church appear attractive to the eye. Yes, it did that, but the architects ofTen
had much more in mind when they painted (or constructed) their rose windows or
carvings in walls, on columns, at the top of columns, or at the end of beams. As
a point in fact, at the Church of San Fedele in France there were discovered
some medals dating from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries that had on
one side the "benign" symbol in the form of a cross with other
decorations with what the symbol actually entailed on the reverse side (which
was a phallic symbol). Some signs were "male" and others were
"female" and were identified by the respective genitalia found on the
reverse side. The Plate IX below was taken from the book "A History of
Phallic Worship," by Thomas Wright and published as a reprint by Dorset
Press, 1992.

PLATE IX (ORNAMENTS FROM THE CHURCH OF
SAN FEDELE

So, the next time you want to admire the decorations that are found in many
of our modern churches (who often copied from early Gothic progenitors), look
closely at the various designs of the crosses in the quatrefoils in the tracery
windows. You will see that some of them are very similar in design (if not
identical) with the medals from the Church of San Fedele shown above. And too,
many churches today have lancet shaped windows (with their pointed arches) as
their basic window designs. When you know what they actually mean to the
initiated (without the outward ambiguity), you may be shocked at what you find
displayed within those "beautiful ornaments of sacred art, that adorn even
the quaint little "churches in the vale." Notice the medals shown
above that depict on the obverse the female genitalia. The artists idealize the
shape of the external genitalia by making what is called an "almond
shaped" design that is called in symbolic language a Mandorla (which means
"like an almond"). The same shape of genitalia (the Mandorla) was
found in the majority of the Sheila-Na-Gigs that were carved on the top of
doorways (usually at the pinnacle of a pointed or lancet arch) in the early
churches and on some Cathedrals. This symbol of the Mandorla is a very much used
in Christian art. Most of us have seen it at one time or another, but most
people have not the slightest idea what it signifies. It is a woman's vulva. The
illustration below shows how Barbara G. Walker in her excellent book "The
Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" describes this well known
symbol called the Mandorla.

Vesica
piscis

Mandorla
"Almond," the pointed-oval sign of the yoni, used in Oriental
art to signify the divine female genital; also called vesic~ piscis, the
Vessel of the Fish. Almonds were holy symbols because of their female,
yonic connotations. Almonds had the power of virgin motherhood, as shown
by the myth of Nana, who conceived the god Attis with her own almond.'
The candlestick of the Jews' tabernacle of the Ark was decorated with
almonds for their fertility magic (Exodus 25:33-34). Christian art
similarly used the mandorla as a flame for figures of God, Jesus, and
saints, because the artists forgot what it formerly meant. I. Frazer,
G.B., 403,

You will often see Mary and/or the supposed "Jesus" within a
glorified Mandorla symbol. Note the following examples

Now note this. If you will cut the Mandorla in half; you will see that the
two sections (if turned upward) resemble the famous pointed arch that we see in
profusion in all of Gothic architecture. It is also the most used form for
windows (such as lancet windows) that we see in churches today. In fact, it is
common for us, when we see windows or doorways that have the pointed arch (which
is the top part of the Mandorla sign) to say that is ecclesiastical or
church-type of architecture. Even the little "church in the dale" is
most often shown with doorways and windows with the pointed type of arch. As
said before, this is simply a modified Mandorla symbol and it represents the
external female genitalia.

This fact can be shown in a most remarkable way once we understand the
medieval attitude toward rendering the Christian Church into the shape of a
stone, wooden and metal building. This especially applies to that architectural
frame of mind which used Gothic motifs to enshroud the clear meanings of their
parts of a church with symbolic teachings that only the initiated would
understand. We can see how the female genitalia (as well as the male) were used
extensively in various ways to show that the "Church" was indeed a
reckoned as a woman that would bear children for God and Christ who were in
heaven. And though in some areas (and even on some Cathedrals) the
Sheila-Na-Gigs were placed in full and blatant display of the female genitalia
(to remind people they were going "inside" the Woman, the Church, in
order to find "life" and regeneration), in most cases the architects
used the esoteric motifs with ambiguous themes or displays that the uninitiated
would not understand.

The Three Divisions of the Medieval Christian Church

In the Middle Ages it was common to say that there were three divisions to
the Christian Church. There was the "Church Triumphant" (those saints
and holy people who are already in heaven because of their righteous lives), the
"Church Militant" (those saints who were then living on earth and had
not yet attained fill glory), and the "Church Suffering" (those saints
who were not righteous enough to go to heaven at death but were still suffering
in Purgatory until they could be cleansed of their sins and then they could
enter the heavenly realm). Each Gothic Church showed these three divisions. The
steeples (spires) that reached toward heaven designated the "Church
Triumphant. The ground level of the Church showed the present "Church
Militant" (representing members who are now in the flesh and warring
against sin). Also, ideally under every Gothic Church (and occupying the same
dimensions of the ground level Church) was a lower section known as the Crypt
where the dead of the parish (or famous people) were buried. This lower section
was tantamount to the "Church Suffering" (or, the area of Purgatory).
The dead who were in Purgatory were still reckoned as living "members"
though they were being cleansed in Purgatory. This nether world section was
viewed as being like a mirage or ghost-like.

Even our word "Crypt" (which identifies the area) gives a negative
or illusionary aspect. The area was thought to be an ethereal region viewed as a
mirror-like reflection of the upper level for the "Church Militant."
But things in the underworld were "turned upside down" (or were
negative) to what we experience in our normal human lives in the flesh. This
mirror-like aspect of representing the Crypt was like looking in a mirror and
seeing an image, but the image could not be touched because the glass of the
mirror came in the way. This mirror effect helped to explain the Church's
doctrinal teaching of Purgatory. The Church inherited this erroneous belief in
Purgatory from pagan teachings of the past.

"The Greek settlers in southern Italy
considered some wild and eerie regions as parts of the underworld existing
on the surface of the earth... The hereafter [after one dies] is conceived as
a mirror image of the world of the living, the difference is not as
great as it may seem. Things may be reversed, left and right, up and down,
the cycle of the seasons may have changed places, but the general principles
remain the same" (The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol.1, p.118,
boldness is my emphasis).

Now, if there was a standing
pool of water surrounding a church where the mirror-image of the church could be
seen (or imagined), the church in the lower image would be upside down and fit
into the realm of being illusionary or ghost-like. This is how Purgatory was
conceived. The Crypt represented the underworld or the "Church Suffering."
Notice how this would appear as a mirror reflection. Look at the example of
Notre Dame on the Seine River in Paris.

When you witness the whole Church (including the mirror image of Purgatory,
that is, the "Church suffering"), we see three Mandorla shaped
entrances to the Church (in this case, Notre Dame). The middle entrance is
symbolically the one to the "Church Militant," the right is into the
"Church Triumphant," and the left is into the "Church
Suffering." The central entrance was the most for those then living on
earth. It was the main entrance with a Mandorla shape (when the mirror image
representing Purgatory or the Crypt was being imagined) and at the top of the
pointed arch (representing the place of the clitoris) is where the
Sheila-Na-Gigs were placed in the blatant rendition of what the symbol was
teaching. Most ecclesiastical leaders, as time went on, took down the obvious
Sheila-Na-Gigs, but they left all the other signs of the male and female
genitalia still in place for all the initiated to remember. And when we today
see the "little church in the dale," we observe the early sexual
themes of the ancient pagans brazenly displayed (though in symbol form) for all
to witness. God and Christ have to look down to see Christians today worshipping
in modem churches (Circes). They observe Christians worshipping God after
entering the symbolic vulvas of their churches.

In closing, let me give you a present day scenario by using an example of an
event of the past mentioned in the Old Testament. When God today calls a council
in heaven of His Sons with all the angels and including Satan the Devil, they
all have a dialogue with one another. This is just like when Satan came to God's
heavenly council in the time of Job (like in Job 1:6-12 and 2:1-6). God no doubt
still asks Satan where has he been. Satan would tell God he had been going
throughout the earth. God would then ask Satan if he noticed the humans on earth
who were His sons and daughters? Satan would then answer God.

"Yes, I have been witnessing the people you
call your so-called sons and daughters and they are so ignorant and stupid
that I have got them into worshipping you in the most disgusting ways
imaginable. I have them all meeting in "churches" which are named
after the Great Whore of Revelation. I have them assembling where they can
find upright and erect penises over their churches. And when they go into
their churches through the female vulva of their churches and sit in pews, I
have them placing Zeus with his long-hair in a prominent position and I get
them to call this image of Zeus by the name of "Jesus".

Satan continues:

"I also have your Christian folk teaching the
doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul which you have stated in the Bible
is wrong. I also have them worshipping you with the false doctrine of the
Trinity. I have them congregating on the pagan days of the ancient world
which they now call Easter and Christmas (with other heathen days and
customs they now call "Christian festivals") when you have said
not to learn the way of the heathen (Jeremiah 10:1-5). I have given them
religious ceremonies that they call Christian worship that originated with
the pagans that you have always condemned and told them not to use. I have
them also reading from their Bibles with an order of the biblical books
completely opposite to your original manuscript design which came from the
apostles and this false design brings them into utter confusion in
understanding true biblical doctrines. That is what I have got your sons and
daughters to do who are supposed to be members of your divine Family. I have
done this deceit while your sons and daughters believe that my deceptions
are righteous, holy and good. God, you have let me do it, and I believe I
have done a jolly good job."

After hearing Satan's report from earth, God would answer Satan and admit
that he has indeed deceived the world.

But God would then remind Satan that there is a remnant of God's people who
know better and eschews such evil, and that He is soon to give them the power to
reveal the truth of these religious corruptions to the whole world. The reason
God would tell Satan of this coming change in society is because it is
prophesied in the Bible. For us there is hope. Indeed, God and Christ have
called you and me to know this truth beforehand. He has selected us to help pave
the way for this new reformation. Though Satan has been highly successful in the
world, there is another side of the coin. We are just now coming into that time
prophesied in the Bible when the whole truth of God is going to be given to this
world. There is hope (real hope) for God's people because God is about to lift
the veil of deception that He has placed on the world (Isaiah 29:13-24).

God is now telling us that His true knowledge will soon sweep this world
(Daniel 12:4,9; Acts 3:19-21). And in fact, God is calling you and me to give us
this advance understanding in order that we can teach God's truth to the world.
He is opening the doors for us, and I hope that all of us will walk through
those open doors. And what is God's promise to you and me now that this
knowledge is being made known to us? The Bible says this: "The God of peace
shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Romans 16:20).